Mancini: SWP has City future

The England winger was expected to leave the club during the January transfer window after falling out of favour since Mancini succeeded Mark Hughes in December 2009. Hughes was interested in taking the 29-year-old, who has made just two Premier League starts this season, to his current club Fulham on loan but the proposed move fell through. Mancini insists the player will not be confined to the wilderness because of that and he could even feature in Saturday's clash with West Brom, with City short on wingers following Adam Johnson's injury. Mancini said: "Last week Shaun had a problem with his back but it is possible Shaun could come in on the bench on Saturday. "He will be important for the rest of the season because he is a good player. If he finds his confidence again it is possible." City's hopes of claiming the title have been dented after collecting just one point from their last two games against Aston Villa and Birmingham. They are now eight points behind leaders Manchester United having played a game more but they hope to start clawing back the deficit by beating the Baggies and winning at Old Trafford next week. Mancini said: "At this moment we have one game (Carlos) Tevez injured, one game Yaya (Toure) injured, Mario (Balotelli) injured for a long time. "When all these players recover and we play with all players that we have we can arrive at the top. "If we win on Saturday and the next game against United that would be very good for us because we can change our situation. "We can win against United. Until now United have never lost but it can happen that they can lose one game - it could be a derby. "With our team we can win there but we know it will be difficult." Mancini hopes to have controversial £24million striker Balotelli back in contention for the Manchester derby. The 20-year-old Italian has not featured since scoring a hat-trick against Aston Villa on December 28 due to a knee problem but is close to fitness. "Balotelli I hope will be available for United, maybe not for the whole game but on the bench if possible," Mancini said. "Today or tomorrow he will start to train with the team and I think in one week he can be on the bench and in 10 days he can play. "I hope Mario can play for the rest of the season pretty much."